The United States Coast Guard Academy has been named one of the top 50 schools in the country by an independent educational organization.
TheBestSchools.org named the school in their list of America’s 50 Best Colleges. The website says these rankings focus on schools offering bachelor’s or associate’s degrees rather than graduate degrees, with weight given to the opportunities for a student to find “personal enrichment and advancement” after graduation.
“We just hope colleges are pleased to be included in the list,” said Brian Jenkins, senior editor of TheBestSchools.org. “We didn’t include any Ivy League schools because in general they’re not focused on undergraduate education. We believe many of the schools in the list don’t receive the attention they deserve.”
The top factors considered in the ranking were the school’s record of achievement, the diversity of the courses offered, the freedom of expression offered to students, the intensity of the academic curriculum, and the cost of the studies as well as debt incurred.
Training of Coast Guard cadets began in 1876 when eight cadets began training aboard the cutter Dobbin at Baltimore. The origins of the Coast Guard Academy in New London date back to 1910, when the War Department turned over Fort Trumbull to the Revenue Cutter Service. The academy’s current campus opened in 1932.
In its ranking of the Coast Guard Academy, TheBestSchools.org says that the school “offers a holistic education, including academics, physical fitness, character, and leadership” with core studies in liberal arts and sciences. The site also describes the school as having a low acceptance rate, an 8-to-1 student to teacher ratio, 52 percent of students from the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class, and 80 percent of students going on to graduate programs. There is no tuition to attend the academy, but cadets must serve five years in the Coast Guard upon graduation.
Each of the country’s five service academies made the list. The other service academies are the U.S. Air Force Academy, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, U.S. Military Academy, and U.S. Naval Academy.
The academy has also earned top honors in other college rankings this year. The Princeton Review named it as one of the country’s best schools in the Northeast as well as one of the top 377 schools in the country. The U.S. News and World Report declared the Coast Guard Academy as its number one choice for top public schools and number two choice for northern regional schools while tying for 10th in the publication’s rankings of best undergraduate engineering programs.
Connecticut College also made the Princeton Review’s list of best schools in the Northeast and top 377 schools. The U.S. News and World Report named Connecticut College number 41 in its national liberal arts college rankings.
